During the week there has been some reflection in the office about the day and what it means to PNG. About how far PNG has come since Independence, how much it has left un-done, how much is still to be done and the frustration at how much better things could be.
The best illustration of how things work here is the polio outbreak in PNG. It started in early June with a case of Polio in Lae and the number of cases has increased and spread since then; as people travel and spread the disease, new cases emerge. The most recent case has occurred in Port Moresby; which means its inevitable that the disease will spread to other parts of PNG because POM is the main travel hub.
Obviously while there have been no new cases of Polio over a period of time, the disease has really only been suppressed not conquered. Polio has not been eliminated from everywhere in the world and world travel means that the disease can appear "out of the blue" so to speak. The reason the disease has emerged again is that vaccinations for Polio in PNG, have been steadily dropping off over the last 17 years, mostly it seems because local clinics have been closed down, or not maintained and education regarding the importance of vaccination has as a consequence dropped off.
To me it points to a mindset that seems to under-gird most things here; start something but don't provide the means to maintain it. Most other countries still vaccinate for Polio regardless, as a way of maintaining action against the disease. Of course the Govt. is responding and providing vaccine and encouraging people to get their children vaccinated but it does show the inconsistency of decision making here.
As mentioned before there is a lot of locals who have a great deal of ill feeling about the money (Billions) being spent on APEC, that could be spent on things that ordinary people desperately need.
I have strong feelings about Polio, because it is preventable and you can see people walking the streets in Kokopo affected with the disease and when I was growing up I had a number of classmates at primary school who were affected by it.
The work ute was decorated, a whole lot of people climbed into the back and we all travelled to Rabaul. I wondered if we would make it over there in one piece but we did, taking about 45 minutes to travel what would normally be a trip of 20 minutes. We were just in time to join the parade which traveled around the main shopping center of Rabaul twice and ended in the local school grounds for the presentation of awards, for the best floate etc. The focus of the parade was keeping rubbish and plastic out of ocean.
What struck me was the way everybody was enjoying themselves and letting their hair down. Most of the floats come from Kokopo and so needed to travel to Rabaul for the parade. On the way over to there were heaps of people on the side of the road waving and shouting out encouragement. It really was a festival day.
Locals were really pleased to see us wearing our "independence" shirts and greeted us warmly, as we walked along the road to the office. They also were excited to see us in the ute waving out. It was something I wouldn't have missed. It was good for us to take part, rather than be spectators. We were lucky that the weather was kind to us most of the day; slightly overcast, with some light rain at one point, average temp. of about 26 degrees. We would have been cooked otherwise.
At the office before leaving.
Lined up ready to joint the parade.
View down the road of some of the other floats. 
This is the one I liked: a pile of people inside the cabin all with binoculars looking out for rubbish. 
Some of the crowd.
Lots of kids. The float in front of us was throwing out lollies, which is what the kids are looking for. National flags everywhere.
The guys from Island Petroleum enjoyed themselves with a water blaster, shooting it off regularly. Great fun!
Some of the crew, including Erickson's (one of the Trainees) son with national flag. The Aikika, (a traditional leafy vegetable) on the sides looking a bit sad after the journey.
The playground was full with parked up floats by the end of the morning. I reckon there were over 100 floats. Some business houses had two or three. A great morning! No silly behaviour that I could see; People just having a good time.
Christine:
Many in the crowd were just as dressed-up as the floats - national dress and flags galore. I am the proud possessor of two Mary dresses - one a gift from my 'family' here and the other in national colours. Looking at Elizabeth (see photo #10), I think I had the 'national' one back to front as the flag hangs down the back! Oh well, it was all a lot of fun. It was good to see some of the tribal costumes again and everyone so happy. I estimate there would have been about 10,000 people there.
Freight ships arrived and cheese stocks disappeared promptly from the shelves - just blue vein, haloumi or if you really do have to have tasty, then tasty 'sticks' are available at 24 kina for 160g or $72 NZ$'s a kilo!
VSA's friends returning to NZ soon handed over two boxes of books for our friendly guard and his family to work their way through. The relief guard who is on duty today can read Tok Pison but not english. Anyone who can't read in English has a very limited choice of reading material as there are no books here in Tok Pison and even books in English are scarce. Guards unable to read have a very boring time unless someone stops to chat for a few minutes or of course, somethings 'going down' and their radio crackles into life with the latest update. Nothing exciting happens in this area......
The grasses need 'weed wacking' at least once a week now and their nasty little seeds catch in the hem of my skirts. On the other hand more flowers are appearing in beautiful bright colours and more birds are returning to nest. Seasons are changing with September getting more rain. It lays the dust and cools things down for a day or so at least so is very welcome. Thunder storms are more frequent but PNG does not get hurricanes and typhoons as it is outside that particular weather belt.
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